Gated Communities: Ideal Packages or Processual Spaces of Conflict?

This paper argues that gated communities are processual spaces which create new conflicts and blur the boundaries between inside and outside, open and private, and safe and unsafe realms. For this purpose, it uses the data collected during the fieldwork from two gated communities in Istanbul based on the examination of everyday life in two case studies. According to the data, gated communities create tensions in the use of facilities and common spaces, indicating a conflict between ownership of and access to space; the use of housing units, indicating a conflict between openness and privacy; and the use of walls and borders which blur the boundaries between inside and outside realms leading to safety gaps. Finally, the paper argues a processual space leading to conflicts and seeds of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]